Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Journal Your Way To Fitness

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One of the most popular fitness trends is wearable technology—you know those devices that keep track of how many steps we take each day and the number of calories burned. These are just some of the benefits these great little gadgets feature. The main benefit of these recorders is that they make us accountable for our actions.

Accountability is the main driver for a successful fitness program. When you take accountability you make it easier to change behaviors you don’t like. For instance, when you come face to face with the number of calories you consume in a day, you can no longer look the other way and claim you don’t know why you can’t lose weight.

One of the best ways to take responsibility for your fitness and health is by keeping a fitness journal. I have been journaling for decades. The advantage is that I can go back a year or more and read what I did then. I can determine what worked and what didn’t and how my body, mind and soul have undergone major changes throughout the years.

Keeping a fitness journal is by far one of the most liberating exercises that I can think of. There is power in the pen that records the truth of my labor. By writing down my exercises and my goals to become stronger—I actually set a plan in action. My mind and body are eager to see my goals become reality.

If you have ever kept a diary or journal, it will be easy for you to begin journaling for fitness. The secret to successful journaling is to be honest with yourself and write down everything you eat and drink and every activity that you do, this also includes your snacks. Many times, it’s those one bite snacks that throw our good eating habits off kilter.
There are some great looking fitness journals available online or in book stores. If you are eager to get started and haven’t found the perfect fitness journal for you, just grab a notebook and started writing. Each day, write down everything you eat. You might be surprised at how much food you actually eat. Be sure to include condiments, such as salad dressings, as these accoutrements can add a substantial amount of calories.
Journaling is one of the easiest ways to successfully manage your weight. It has been proven that people who keep a record of everything they eat and drink, have greater success in losing weight and keeping it off than those who do not. Start journaling today and be accountable for your life.

Fitness Journals Take The Guesswork Out of Dieting

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Many women who have successfully lost weight and kept it off have attributed a lot of their success to keeping a fitness journal. It can make or break your training progress. Not only does it help to keep you accountable, a fitness journal also helps to improve discipline and perseverance. Keeping track of your exercise, in particular, helps it to become a routine.

Logging in your food intake each day, helps to organize your meals and monitors your intake daily. You can determine the amount you are eating and whether you are getting the nutrients needed for your body. When consuming calories, you want to make sure you are getting the most “bang for your buck.” In other words, will the food you eat provide the energy you need without excess fat storage?

Keeping a fitness journal will take the guesswork out of dieting. Fitness journals make it easier to diet; it’s a wonder that everyone is not journaling on a regular basis. It doesn’t take that much time, and it adds an extra layer to your diet and fitness program.

It generally takes me about 2 minutes after each meal to update my food log. I write in my exercise routines after my workout, taking about a minute or two, more. Certainly, you can dedicate an extra 10 minutes per day to improve your focus and invest in your fitness program.

For times when you might not be seeing the results of your efforts as quickly as you like, your fitness journal can provide you with the boost you need to keep you working towards your goals. By comparing where you were last month or last week to where you are today, will help you to realize just how far you have come. Remember, fitness is a life-style with benefits that will last a life-time.
Keeping a fitness journal helps to determine your exercise patterns. If you have been struggling with a mixed workout schedule, you can look back through your journal and see what times have proven more successful. Do you have a better workout in the morning or in the afternoon?
You can nip complacency in the butt with your fitness journal. If you find yourself losing interest in exercising and making excuses not to work out, you can use your fitness journal to create a plan for better consistency.
Use your journal to determine your emotions. Different types of exercise can affect the way you feel. You may notice that each time you do a particular type of workout you end up feeling elated for the rest of the day. Finding what works best for you is the key to prolonged success.

Discover How a Fitness Journal Can Work for You

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Maintaining a fitness journal can have a great impact on your workout. It helps you plan and maintain your focus for better results. By keeping a journal and monitoring your achievements, you can get a good idea of what exercises work best for you.

If you have ever kept a food diary, which is crucial when dieting, you know to keep accurate recordings. Throughout the day, write down everything that you eat. By doing this, you are taking responsibility for the food that you put in your body. You can include the caloric intake if you wish, but the important thing is to remember to record everything you eat and drink in your journal.

There are two problems with basing your diet on strict calorie-counting: 1) some find it difficult or dull, and dieters with the best of intentions often give up on calorie-counting after a few days; 2) it’s almost impossible to do with any great degree of accuracy.

Just as calorie counting is difficult, it is not always easy to track how many calories are expended by exercise. Most treadmill and other aerobic machines will do this for you, but if you take a walk around the neighborhood, engage in a set of tennis, or roller skate for an hour, you can only guess how many calories you’ve burned.

Remember, it’s not so much the exact amount of calories burned that you need to track, but the trends in your exercise. Is exercise becoming easier and more enjoyable? Are you increasing the sets and reps? When you have start adding weights to your workout be sure to log in the amount of weight you work with each time.

When training for any fitness goal, be it losing weight, body building or completing a strenuous boot camp program, a fitness journal is the secret to greater success. It keeps you accountable offers proof that perseverance and commitment, mixed with lots of hard work and sweat, really will make a difference in your life.

Writing Your Way To A New You

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Starting a fitness journal is one of the best tools you can have to ensure success. If you are serious about your workout and are interested in losing weight and getting fit, I have the secret to help you slim down and shape up permanently. Journaling is the single most easiest activity to add to your diet and workout plan, and one of the most powerful tools to guarantee success.

You probably already know that it has been proven time and again that people who keep a fitness journal have a far greater chance at losing weight and keeping it off than those who do not. Journaling is one of the best ways to hold yourself accountable for all your food and beverage consumption and your fitness level.

In order to get the most benefit from your fitness journal you must be honest with everything you write down. Make an entry for each day and record everything you eat and drink. Once you get over the shock of how much you really are eating, you can begin to track your exercise and physical activities that you do each day.

Keeping a journal will open your eyes and your mind to what is working for you and what is not. You will be able to better understand your food cravings and chart your day on when you might be the hungriest. This can help you to plan your meal times to better suit your hunger needs. You may need to eat a bigger breakfast but a smaller lunch, or maybe a medium sized lunch and smaller dinner are more suitable to your body. Controlling portion size is very important when you are learning to manage your weight so be sure to write down how much you are eating. Measure or weigh your portions until you get used to eye-balling the amount. You might be surprised at what you thought was a ½ cup.

I find that actually writing with paper and pen work best for me, but you may find that your mobile device or computer are better for storing your data. There is something very personal about actually writing that keeps me accountable but if your online journal works for you, by all means continue with anything you are comfortable with.

Journaling provides a written account of your daily consumption and your fitness level. It’s helpful to look back over your entries and see how far you have come. Especially, at times when you feel like your body isn’t changing but you feel like you are sacrificing and not eating the foods you like. Sometimes, it feels like it is all for nothing. When those times come, sit down, open your journal and compare the early entries with what you are doing now.

Your fitness journal is your confidant and fitness buddy to help you lose weight and get in shape. Be honest, be open, but don’t judge yourself to harshly. Each day is a new day, so start writing and stay focused on your fitness goal. Before you know it you will be writing your way to a new, slimmer, healthier you.

A Fitness Journal Will Help You Lose Weight

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When you are ready to lose weight, start keeping a fitness journal. It is a proven fact that women who keep a food diary or journal of everything they eat and drink and all of the activity that they do; have a far greater chance of success than those who do not. Just like diet and exercise, journaling is an essential element to weight loss.

A journal is similar to a diary, except that it is a bit more detailed. A fitness journal should be able to track your progress every day. Your fitness journal can be your own private story of your eating habits and your fitness level. Be sure to write your goals each week to keep your journal and diet from becoming mundane and boring.

Before you begin, recording your goals, you’ll want written proof of where you started. What was your weight before you began losing pounds and inches? To have an accurate account of this most important part of your fitness plan you will need to write it down in the very beginning. Use your fitness journal to write down your starting weight, your measurements, your current size and your weight loss and fitness goals.

It doesn’t take much time to keep your journal current; just remember to record everything you eat at snacks and regular meals. The mere act of writing down what you eat at each meal; makes it easier to choose wisely at the next meal. You can also use your journal to write down how you feel when you eat. Are you starving, do you feel guilty about your food choices, do you continue to eat past the point of being full? Addressing these issues can help to determine what your eating patterns are.

Eating should be a celebratory time and never laden with guilt. You can make healthy choices about what you eat and still take pleasure in your food. Feelings of guilt will only make you feel disappointed in yourself. Keep in mind that food is not the problem; food is the answer. Your diet is your way of life; it is what sustains you and makes you whole.

Keeping a fitness journal will keep you accountable, not only for your weight loss but for your overall fitness health. Your fitness journal will be the proof behind your efforts and will give you a clear view of what is working and what isn’t.